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Sandhills Publishing, UNL partner to support IT grads

Sandhills Publishing hopes a new partnership with UNL encourages more young people to pursue an education in Nebraska and to keep their talents and skills in the Cornhusker State when they graduate.

Thomas and Rhonda Peed of Lincoln, founders of Sandhills Publishing, announced a gift commitment to the University of Nebraska Foundation to create the Sandhills Publishing Student Program. The program benefits the UNL Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

At the heart of the program is the Sandhills Publishing Scholarship, which will eventually provide scholarship awards of $8,000 each to eight students a year. Beginning this fall semester, scholarships will be awarded to two incoming freshmen students every year, and based on continued academic achievement the students may be eligible to receive the scholarships for an additional three years.

Other components of the Sandhills Publishing program include access to company internship opportunities and support for the Sandhills Publishing visiting instructor, which will help provide an annual elective course available to sophomores and above.

Steve Goddard, the John E. Olsson Professor of Engineering at UNL and chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, said the Sandhills program further validates a strong university program.

"We believe the computer science and engineering department is Nebraska's premier port of entry to the most promising and challenging careers of the 21st century," he said. "We're proud to welcome a partnership with Sandhills Publishing as we seek opportunities to provide the best education and experience for our future graduates. We’re confident they will be impressed with the quality of our students."

Awarded by UNL, the Sandhills Publishing Scholarship supports students within the Department of Computer Science and Engineering who study any major degree program. Candidates must have a high school GPA of 3.8 or above and an ACT score of 30 or above to be considered, and preference will be given to students from Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota or South Dakota.

The gift from the Peed family also provides support to the University of Nebraska's current fundraising initiative, the Campaign for Nebraska: Unlimited Possibilities. Priorities of the campaign include increasing student scholarships and bolstering the university's information technology programs.

Founded in 1978, Sandhills Publishing is located in Lincoln, and is an information processing company. Its diverse range of products includes trade publications for the construction, trucking, aircraft, agriculture, and computer industries, as well as consumer computer magazines. It also provides specialized electronic information services for the construction equipment industry and offers online versions of its publications.